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Nov 13
Winter Fishing in Miami, 'Tis the Season
Winter Fishing in Miami It's been quite some time since our last report. We experienced steady mahi fishing all summer and fall, caught plenty of fish inshore, and we are now gearing up for winter. The seasons are changing and things only get better inshore and offshore from now all the way through spring. Winter fishing in Miami has diverse opportunities for anglers of all skill level. Sailfish Charters in Miami Offshore, sailfish, mahi, kingfish, swordfish, and more will keep people busy throughout the winter. On calm days, swordfish are accessible and typically biting about 15 miles out. Nearshore, the sailfish bite will keep improving throughout winter and spring. November-January we typically average 2-4 sails per trip but when the conditions line up double digit days are not uncommon. These fish are easily accessible for half day charters and serve as a great introductory billfish. Unlike marlin, sailfish can be caught in numbers on light tackle with consistency. Using 20lb line and kite fishing equipment allows us to put anglers ...
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Jul 12
Miami Fishing Camp
Double Threat Fishing Camp Living in Miami has a number of benefits but too many people miss out on what makes Miami such a special place to grow up in. For five days captains Nick and Brent helped show 5 kids how wonderfully rewarding the ocean can be through our Miami Fishing Camp. Our Miami fishing camp is a hands on approach for teaching kids about the different angling opportunities Miami has to offer, while supplementing the experience with knowledge on the ecosystems that make our marine systems so important. It was an incredible week filled with fish and fun, and we can confidently say the kids have a true passion for fishing. With five full days of fishing at our disposal, we were able to give the kids a well rounded fishing experience by sampling all of what Miami has to offer. Every day held something different in store for the group, and there was never a dull moment. Late spring is still a period of time marked by ...
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Jul 12
Miami Shark Fishing
Miami Shark Fishing Charters During any Double Threat Charter you can come into contact with sharks. Lemons, nurses, and blacktips prowl Biscayne Bay flats and bulls, hammers, lemons, and countless other species hunt the ocean side channels and deeper waters surrounding Miami's coast. For those who are interested in targetting sharks specifically, a Miami shark fishing trip during the summer really can't be beat. These fish are anywhere between 4 and 9 feet long, but our typical average is around 6.5'. There are two style of shark fishing that Miami is well known for -- land based shark fishing and sharkfishing from a boat. While both target the same species, they are two completely different styles of fishing and demand entirely different tackle and tactics. Our trips are solely from boats, so our report reflects those tactics that work best for us. Shark Fishing Tackle Our Miami shark fishing trips use very straightforward rigs that evolved from some of our offshore trolling and swordfishing tactics. We like to use wind on ...
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Jul 5
Stalking the Flats
Sight Fishing in Miami The acres of shallow flats that border south Biscayne Bay serve as my hunting grounds, right in Miami's backyard. These beautiful expanses of water stretch across the entire length of the bay, serving as a barrier that protects the inland coast from the open ocean. Every day, twice a day, an entire bay full of water flows across these shallows making its way offshore. Then, at the turn of the tide, fresh water flows right back in completing the cycle. During both tidal periods life is swept across the flats where fish of all sizes take part in feeding on the unsuspecting critters that flow by with the current. The bonefish and permit that frequent these areas are constantly foraging for food in water less than two feet deep, making them excellent sight fishing targets. In its finest form, sight fishing unearths our most primitive and hard wired instinct-- the need to hunt. From my vantage on top of the poling platform, I still have issues ...
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May 25
Miami Fishing Charters During Spring
Its been a while since our last report because the fishing off Miami has been wide open! Miami fishing charters during spring are our favorite trips because of the variety of different species you can run into at any given moment. Every day has been a little bit different, but there's a reason why our captains love springtime compared to the other times of the year. The fishing always seems to be incredible. On any given day offshore action can mean sailfish, dolphin, tuna, wahoo, marlin, amberjack and many more species. But don't think that this action is limited to the offshore arena. Inshore action has been red hot as well. Earlier in the month the seatrout bite was red hot and we marked over 100 releases in one day. The tarpon are still present on the beaches and inlets, and the snook bite is picking up as the water warms up. The bonefish and permit bite has been fantastic too, and sharks are ever present in water just ...
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Mar 25
Miami Offshore Fishing in March
Miami Offshore Fishing in March Springtime is our favorite time of year to catch a variety of trophy fish in Miami. Miami's offshore fishing in march really heats up, and every day is different. Sometimes the tuna are voracious, while at other times we almost can't get away from the dolphin and sailfish. Kingfish, wahoo, and a number of other species are just as likely to eat your baits, one of the main reasons why we love Miami's offshore fishing in march; there's no telling what's on the other end of the line. Afternoon Sailfishing in Miami -- 3/8/2013 Today we had the opportunity to fish an afternoon half day. With hundreds of baits penned up we spent little time looking for the schools of pilchards that have been moving through the area. Nick marked some bait off bug light, and Brent threw the net twice filling up the remaining space in the livewell with chummer sized pilchards. Conditions looked great right out front, and for ...
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Feb 26
February Fishing Reports in Miami
February Fishing Reports in Miami-Epic Sailfishing- February 20th We left the dock at 8 am. We already had some goggle eye, thread fin herring, and pilchards but we stopped for extra bait. We loaded up on big pilchards and officially had a beautiful live well. We then headed straight out front and popped the kites up in about 150. There were about 1.5 knots of north current and conditions looked pretty good. It didn't take long before we had a triple header of dolphin. We landed 2 of the 3 and reset our spread. We slid in shallower to about 115' and a sailfish came up on our short. He swiped at it but we couldn't connect. After a little longer, we had a second shot at another sailfish. This time we capitalized. We continued to fish shallow and between 100-120', we had nonstop action for the rest of the morning. We ended up having a double header on sails and a few more singles. We also caught a bunch more dolphin, several kingfish, ...
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Feb 26
Winter Sailfishing off Miami- Epic Bite
The Winter Sailfishing Has Been Phenomenal The past week we had a stellar bite off Miami. Sailfish, tarpon, snook, swordfish, and more were caught. The fishing picked up following the first genuinely significant cold front of the year. With a few more cold fronts heading our way, expect it to get even better. Weather- There are several cold fronts moving into our area. Temperatures will be dropping into the low 50s at night and the low 70s during the day starting on Thursday night (Feb. 28th) and lasting until at least mid next week. These cold fronts will be accompanied by light to moderate north winds. What does this imply for fishing in Miami for the next few weeks? Perfect weather and lots of fish. Winter sailfishing at its finest. Offshore Fishing- The fishing during the past week was phenomenal. The average boat caught 5-10 sailfish per day with dolphin and kingfish mixed in (we caught 6 sailfish, 2 kingfish, and 10 dolphin on Wednesday). We even heard a few reports of up ...
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Jan 24
January Fishing Reports in Miami
January Fishing Reports in Miami Good Tarpon Bite January 8th On the evening of the 8th, we launched at the ramp and headed toward government cut for what we expected to be a decent tarpon bite. The last few trips resulted in several shots at tarpon along with some decent bycatch. This trip was no different. Drifting live bait resulted in some decent action. We finished the night catching 3 tarpon to 70 pounds. Final Catch- 3 for 3 on tarpon to 70 pounds Sailfishing off Miami during January 12th The day started off with much difficulty catching bait. We ended up rounding up a few spanish sardines, some cigar minnows, some hard tails, and some pinfish. This was more than most boats had in their wells and we made the call to hit the edge. We popped up the kites and put out a mid and bottom rod. There were about 2 knots of north current and blue water in tight. This was better conditions we'd seen some time. The first hit was a ...
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Jan 2
Winter Light Tackle Action
Miami Fishing Charters, Hot Winter light tackle action The steady push of cold fronts during the winter creates a great opportunity to target game fish species with light tackle as the the acton heats up. Steady numbers of Sailfish can be found offshore with dolphin, kingfish, and wahoo mixed in. Redfish and seatrout fishing has been hot inshore of Flamingo, with warmer spells sparking the snook bite. Offshore Flamingo has produced significantly, with over a dozen different species being caught during the outings. Sharks, grouper, cobia, and snapper are thick just to name a few that fell to light tackle recently. Big tarpon have been thick in Miami, with snook and large snapper being our by catch. The bite has been exceptional lately! Inshore Flamingo Action The name of the game for Flamingo this time of year is diversity. Both our inshore and offshore fishing packages promote numbers of species of fish, with many being in the trophy class. Redfish and seatrout can be found hunting the flats for meals ...
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Dec 8
Deep Sea Fishing Charters Miami
Deep Sea Fishing Charters, This Week in Miami Deep Sea Fishing Charters Miami this week produced lots of action. North Current finally made an appearance and so did the fish! Kite Fishing off Key Biscayne, 12/1/2012 There was finally some north current and a decent edge although it was a little deep. Bait was great at bug light and we loaded up with threadfin herring in short order. Seas were 6-8 feet with a 20 knot ENE wind. All of the fish were caught in 220'-300'. There were scattered mahi schools and we had a single and a double on sails. All the fish were caught off the kite with 20lb high-vis Bullbuster Monofilament, check them out at http://bullbuster.net/ Definitely a great bite out there and our guests had a lot of fun. Final Tally- 3/3 sails, 12 dolphin to 15 pounds, and some bonito Deep Sea Sailfish in Rough Seas, 12/2/2012 There was smoking north current today and an 8-10 foot sea. We fished briefly in the morning before our guests got sick ...
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Nov 26
No Motor Zone Redfishing
As is typical of lightly pressured areas, No Motor Zone regions of Flamingo (and Florida for that matter) exempt anglers with engines from accessing these waters. Captain John and company decided they wanted to fish these areas, and had an interesting way of doing it. Using the 13' whaler as a mother ship, Captain John installed a canoe carrier and outfitted the whaler with a canoe, tackle, food, and a light amount of gear. Captain John and a guest slipped out into Flamingo and anchored the whaler well outside of the no motor zone to dispatch the canoe and gear. From here, John and george hit the redfish, trout, and snook all throughout the day. No motor zone redfishing is a blast with light tackle as the reds dont even notice the canoe going by. Snook as well are less spooky as the canoe slides by. It is an incredibly rewarding experience to be out on the water this time of year, because the bugs are thinning out, the air is ...
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Nov 25
Grouper Trolling in Miami
This past week has been a tough one offshore with bait being spotty and current offshore being almost nonexistant. We had 3 offshore trips that had interesting conditions, but Captain Nick was able to put everyone on fish regardless. Sunday-- November 18, 2012 Our first outing occured this past with a group that wanted some meat for the table. We loaded up on threads and runners at marker 21, and added a few more at bug before heading offshore. Reports from south spoke of zero current, so we set the spread out front of the can. Right off the bat the right short got chewed on before we could set the otherside. Only a few ahd passed before the "little fish" came right to the boat. We all got a glimpse of the 15lb king before it smoked off on a run. Our angler played it back in and we led it to the fishbox soon after. We reset that bait, only to have a healthy skipjack tuna crush it before we ...
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Nov 9
Offshore Fishing Key Biscayne
With winds picking up and clocking towards the north, we had high hopes for the morning. It was a chilly november morning--just the ticket for sailfishing. We got out to bug at the crack of dawn but baitfishing was not easy today. We slayed the runners but we caught the tide too early for herring. We managed two small herring and a spanish sardine with 3 dozen runners--not our preferred well full, but it would be suffice. We headed east and in short order we were kite fishing Key Biscayne in 130'. Winds weren't so bad just yet, probably around 12 mph, but the seas were 4-6 and rolling. As the day wore on the seas stacked to solid 6' with some larger waves thrown in. Unfortunately, the wind remained out of the NW for the majority of the morning, so there was less than a knot of current on the edge. Soon after setting the spread, a big hammerhead shark cruised through, but was uninterested in our baits. After watching him submerge, ...
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Nov 4
Thresher Shark Fishing in Florida
Thresher Shark Fishing in Florida We got a late start to do some daytime swordfishing. There was a light east wind and we heard a few decent reports so hopes were high. We headed straight out to the grounds and had a line in by 11: 30. There wasn't much current, only about a knot and a half. The first drift didn't produce a hit and ended after we busted off our weight. We had only soaked the bait for about 45 minutes and we moved north to take another drop. At about 1:30, we had just touched bottom and cranked up into the strike zone. Before we could get comfortable, the rod doubled over like we snagged bottom. The fish took off like a freight train and we were tight. Some strong initial runs showed that this was a big fish. We had 25 pounds of drag on the fish and he wasn't phased... The tug of war lasted 3 hours and we saw the silhouette of a massive fish after getting ...
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Nov 3
Kite Fishing for Dolphin
Kite Fishing for Dolphin and Sailfish off Miami We left the dock at 8:30 for a morning trip to start up our group's bachelor party where they would head to the keys after the charter. We already penned up some threadfin herring earlier that week so we got to fly by the mayhem at bug and put lines in the water. There wasn't much current on the edge and things were a little slow at the start. It didn't take too long before a dolphin at the left short kite bait and started jumping. We came tight and got him in the cooler pretty quick. Soon after, we caught another dolphin in about 180'. We scooted out to a decent current rip in about 300' after boating the gaffers. We had a small shark cruise into the spread and we pitched a live bait to him. He inhaled the bait and one of our customers began bringing him to the boat. Midway through the fight, a sailfish destroyed the left ...
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Oct 21
Sailfishing Charters in Miami
Catching Sailfish in Miami Went out for a late afternoon trip from Coconut Grove for one of the first Sailfishing Charters in Miami this year. We hit Bug Light for bait and after a little while we caught enough spanish sardines and cigar minnows for the evening trip offshore. For kitefishing we usually employ baits that are around 5-6". This way they are large enough to make a commotion and attract the attention of nearby predators. Our baits today weren't very big kite baits but they would definitely do... We also netted some ballyhoo and we were off. We had some time constraints so we went straight out front and put up 2 kites with 6 baits. Right off the bat we caught a nice mackerel and a skipjack tuna in 120'. After a decent lull in the action we had drifted north of Key Biscayne. At this point we noticed decent current rip had pushed out with the tide and conditions were improving. We had begun to see signs of ...
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Oct 7
Dolphin Fishing in Miami
Bait was slim pickings everywhere, but we managed. Bug held baby gogs (awesome baits for dolphin fishing), and there were some pods of pilchards off the mark, but they were getting crushed by bonita which made it hard for us to fill the well any further. Without wasting any time we headed out. We made our way offshore, and after a few hours, came upon a large log loaded with triggerfish and baby tripletail. After working the area thoroughly for dolphin to no avail, we dropped jigs and live baits deep. For our efforts we got two 18" long weehoo. Without any more action, we moved on. In about 850' a bird was working its way over a few patches of weed. In this situation we prefer to use light tackle when dolphin fishing. In Miami, fish can grow to over 40lbs, and although the fight is always memorable, we prefer to take it one step further by using light and ultra light tackle. Deep sea fishing for dolphin is always ...
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Sep 20
Daytime Swordfishing Miami
We were pretty pumped to be back out after a solid 0 minutes of sleep. We had new guests for this outing and we were once again optimistic about the sword bite. Swordfishing can be done by day and by night, but the thrill of daytime swordfishing Miami rivals none. Big fish are present, and the fishery can be done without losing sleep. Catching a fish the night prior definitely helped morale despite the sleep deprivation, and the attraction of boating a big swordfish pushed us forward. Getting to the Swordfish From where we were docked our target area was around 30 miles away. After departing the marina we made our way to the edge of the Gulfstream, finally slowing when we saw blue water. From here we trolled from the edge to about 500' and caught 2 football blackfin in the process. Already content with a bit of table fare and the skunk off the boat, we ran the rest of the way to the grounds. The winds were picking up out of ...
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Sep 19
Nighttime Swordfishing off Miami
Swordfishing at Night We headed out after a late start. We had high hopes given the moon condition and time of year. There were decent reports to the north from a week prior and we were pretty optimistic about our chances of catching a Swordfish. The wind was light and variable which would end up being a bit of a curse but it certainly made for a tranquil night. Swordfishing in Miami at night is a very effectve way of connecting with a swordfish when the rise nearer to the surface to feed. We got to the grounds and set our spread. At first the winds were out of the south but after setting the spread they switched to the west with a nearby storm. This blew us a bit off the numbers and after a long unproductive drift we reset a tad shallower. Drifting for Swords Our next drift was a bit more interesting. We were lined up perfectly and got the spread oriented accordingly with the northeast wind. ...
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